Casablanca
by Continuer Mon Fils Rebel
Summary: He moved a lock of hair behind my ear; I bit him. I didn't care if he was my new owner. "Sorry, we'll get you a new one." His mother apologized. "No, I like this one" He informed them. I glared daggers at him.
1. Chapter 1

I ran away from the house at full speed. Running was my specialty. I ran away from the blaring sirens as fast as I could while clutching the loaf of bread I had taken from the strange house. My fiery hair streamed behind me and I headed towards the woods. I stopped behind a tree and breathed lightly and slowly, waiting to hear the Peacekeeper's voices.

"Casablanca?" One of them said in a deep, sing-song voice. Casablanca was my full first name, and it annoyed me. I was named after some old movie. Most called me Cassie.

They started searching in the woods, I could hear their feet crunching the leaves. I dared not to move, or breathe.

"Gotcha!" One Peacekeeper grabbed my wrist while I was lost in my thoughts. I yelped in surprise as the other grabbed my other wrist. They wrestled me to the Justice Building where I awaited my sentence.

I was moved to a room with a few different Peacekeepers, and the Head Peacekeeper himself. They all started talking, trying to decide what to do with me.

"Maybe we could sell her hair." One said, pulling some of my red locks. I bit his hand.

"Oh no, not for this one. Avox, definitely Avox." The Head Peacekeeper said. I glared daggers at him, he smirked. I wasn't about to let him have all of the glory, I stuck my tongue out at him. A vein started plusing in his neck as he got up and hit me hard across the face. It took everything in me not to bite him.

They forced me into an operating room and put me under. When I woke up I had a strange empty feeling in my mouth. I then remember what happened.

My mouth ached as they forced me onto a train headed to the Capitol where I'd be sold to somebody who'd whip me every time I made a mistake. I pretended not to care when inside I was dying. _I never even got to taste the bread I stole_. Was my last thought as the train pulled


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews and favorites! I hope you guys like Cassie so far!)

I only own Cassie, my friend owns/made up Riley.

_(Cassie's thoughts/looks)_

I sat in the stupid Avox auction, which reminded me of a horse auction. Us Avoxes had no say in where we went. Someone showed interest in one of us an auctioneer would come and start the bidding. Nobody showed interest in me, I was thankful for that. After quite some time a man and an older couple noticed me, the man was more interested in me than the couple. I paid no attention to them and continued to wallow in self pitty.

"What about this one?" The man said, meaning me. He had blonde hair and grey eyes, he was relatively good looking. He began to move a lock of hair behind my ear. I bit him. He retracted his hand.

"Oh! How about a different one, sweetheart?" The older woman said. I assumed she was his mother.

"No," the man smirked, "I like this one."

I continued to glare daggers at him. I had nothing against him, I just didn't want to be bought by anybody.

He laughed as his parents delt with the auctioneer. "Trust me, I don't want to be here any more than you do."

I rolled my eyes. _Sure, like you were forced here against your will knowing that you could get sold to an axe murder!_ I thought to myself.

"I'm serious, they had to drag me here." He continued laughing. Somehow, he knew what I meant just by looks.

_Sure they did_ I rolled my eyes again.

"Honestly." He said as his parents came back.

"Ready, dearest?" His mother asked.

"Yeah." The man said, taking my hand. I ripped it out of his grip.

I continued glaring at the ground, hating my life.

"Better me than some abusive bum with more money than he needs." He whispered to me.

I sent him a look saying _How do I know you're not one?_

"You can either trust me and let me prove it, or deny it and be miserable the whole time you're here." He pointed out.

'I'm going to be miserable no matter what!' It was true, no matter how nice of an owner I had I was still going to be miserable.

"It's funny, I've found I enjoy life more when I'm happy to be alive." He gave me a useless philosophy.

'Would you be happy if you had to be a servent without any say in the matter?' I wanted to scream.

"Don't even worry about it. I take care of most of the cleaning myself. I'm probably the biggest Germaphobe in the Capitol." He attempted to make me feel better. Yea, like that would help.

_Not what I meant._ I said using my eyes, damn I must've been good at talking with my eyes. The man just smirked at me.

"I'm Riley, by the way." He introduced himself while staring ahead. I couldn't exactly respond to say that my name was Cassie.

Riley tried helping me into the car, I ignored his help. I saw him roll his eyes in annoyance and get into the car. I crossed my arms and exhaled loudly.

"Don't worry." He tried to make me relax and make me feel better. It didn't work.

_How can't I?_ I asked with my eyes.

"Just trust me." Yea, like that was gonna happen anytime soon.

I shook my head. I didn't plan on trusting Riley anytime soon.

"You don't trust me, do you?" He asked.

I shook my head again. He was finally catching on.

"I'll have to convince you, then." He smirked at me.

_Like that's going to happen_. I almost never trusted people.

"You'd be surprised," Riley laughed, "I'm very convincing."

_And I don't trust people._

"So you think there's no way I can convince you I'm different?" He asked me. I shook my head. "Good," he smiled, "I like a challenge."

I scowled at him, my mind instently going to the gutter. An awkward silence settled around us. I snuck a glance at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him smirking as he drove. I bit my cheek and made my eyes stay silent and my face devoid of any emotion. I eventually fell asleep.

"Wake up, Hunny." Riley said jokingly as he woke me up. Apparently we were at his house, my new home.

I gritted my teeth at the nickname. _Never call me that again._ My extremely expressive eyes told him.

He lead me up to the giant house. "Welcome to Casa de Riley." He said. The house looked like something out of a modern fairytale. It wasn't a castle but it was still pretty huge compared to what I was used to. I opened the door for myself and walked in. The walls were extremely white. It was like that in every room. I felt like I was in an insane asylum. "So," Riley's voice broke the silence, "I'll show you to your room." I nodded.

Once I was all settled in the room I flopped down on the bed and fell back into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**I only own Cassie, my friend owns Riley.**

I woke up the next morning in a white room, my new room. I got out of bed still in my pajammas, which were a white tank-top, and plaid pajamma pants. My hair was still tied up in a messy pony tail. I didn't really care at this point.

I decided to go to the kitchen. My plan didn't go too well, the house was huge. I ended up getting lost and seriously doubting that there even was a kitchen in the place.

"Need some help?" Riley asked, coming up behind me.

I nodded in response.

"What are you looking for?" He asked me.

I gave him the 'really?' look. As if I could answer him.

"Oh! Right, um..." Riley suddenly remembered that I was an Avox. He looked around the area and picked up a note pad and pen.

'The kitchen.' I wrote.

"Right this way." He lead me to the kitchen. It was white, big surprise, with stainless steel applicances. It would've been heaven for any chef.

'Thanks.' I scribbled as I searched for food, I eventually settled on cereal. Riley settled for the same.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked as he ate.

'Okay, I guess.'

"Well, that's better than nothing." Apparently Riley was an optimist.

'I suppose.' I shrugged.

"Anyway, I have some errands to run today, so you'll have the house to yourself." He informed me.

'Okay then.' I wrote.

"You don't think you'll get lost again?" He smirked at me.

'At least I ask for directions.' I used the old gender discrimination against him.

"Well, here's my mobile number." He scribbled it on a piece of paper. "Text me if you need anything." He put his spoon and bowl in the sink.

'Yes, because I totally have a phone.' My pen dripped with sarcasm. I definitely wasn't rich enough to get a phone back in my home District.

"There's a cell in the second drawer from the stove." He told me. I took it and finished my breakfast.

As I was walking to the sink I tripped and dropped the bowl. It shattered on the floor. I got up and sighed as I began to pick up my mess. Once I was done I decided it wasn't good enough and sweeped the floor.

"See you in a few hours." My boss said as he made a beeline for the door.

I grabbed a book and killed time by reading.

"I'm home." Riley collapsed on the couch. I sat in the kitchen chowing down on some salty crackers I'd found. "Avox!" Riley shouted to get my attention. I exhaled through my nose in extreme annoyance at the name.

'It's Cassie, definitely not 'Avox'.' I jotted down with my teeth clenched.

"Cassie. I can remember that." He tried my name out on his tongue.

'Easier than Casablanca.' I shrugged.

"Casablanca. I like it. It sounds exoctic." He said.

'I don't.' I was never a big fan of my name, it was different sure but Cassie suit me more.

"Just saying." Riley shrugged.

'Well, never call me Casablanca.' I warned him.

"Alright, Cassie it is." He held his hands up in defeat.

'Good.'

"So, Cassie. How was your day?" He asked me.

'Boring.' I didn't do anything but read and eat. Yup, I was living the life.

"Well, what do you want to do?" He asked.

'I'm your Avox, I'm not suppose to be buddy-buddy with you.' I reminded him. If anybody found out I'd comunicated with Riley I could've been killed. Riley didn't seem to care, or know.

"Well, doing what I'm suppose to was never really my forte, so lets do something fun."

'You do realize I could get severely punished just for having a pen, right?" I asked him.

"If nobody knows, then nobody can care." He shrugged.

'They can find out.' I thought of that one girl Avox, Livinia I think that was her name, who was tortured to death according to other Avoxes.

"How? We'll stay in the house. And if anyone wants to come in, they'll still have to knock." Riley just didn't get it.

'What about in public?' I asked.

"Then we'll have to figure something else out, won't we?" I had no idea how we could.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. 'What'd you call me in for?' I asked him.

"Just making sure you were alright." He said.

'Well, obviously I'm fine.' My natural accid leaked into the pen and paper.

"Okay." Riley smiled. I could hear him snoring in his sleep as I tried to find something to do. I settled for eating. My plan didn't go too well, I dropped the plate and it shattered to the floor. Two plates in one day, that had to be a record. I could hear Riley waking up and coming towards the kitchen as I cleaned up the mess.

"What'd you break this time?" Riley asked smirking down at me.

"A plate." I glared at him a little. He handed me a handbroom and a dustpan.

"You hungry?" He asked me.

I nodded. I hadn't eaten much since I had gotten to the house.

He took out a package of hot dogs. "How do like your hot dogs?"

"Doesn't matter." I wrote. It really didn't, the only thing that'd be hard for me to eat would've been bread. Riley took the hot dogs and wrapped them in cheese singles, put them in a bun, added some ketchup, mustard, and then some sweet relish.

"Thanks." I jotted as I grabbed one. I began to wonder how to eat this thing. Usually I'd dive right in. But now, I didn't know how I'd get past the bun. I began to eat with some difficulty. Riley noticed.

"Should I put it in a blender or something?" He asked with genuine worry.

I shook my head. Riley shrugged and ate his hot dog. I began to get fustrated with the bun and my not being able to eat it. I eventually took the cheese covered hot dog out of it's bun and ate it that way.

"Nice." Riley said seeing what I had done to the hot dog.

"Bread's hard to eat when you don't have a tongue." Even my pen was sharp-tongued... Well, pointed.

Riley held his hands up in surrender and got up to do the dishes. I sat on the counter and finished my hot dog.

"You really do clean up after yourself." I wouldn't have believe it if I hadn't seen it.

"You thought I was lying?" He smirked.

"You could've been." I shrugged.

"I don't believe in lies. Lies disgust me." He rolled his eyes. Great, I used to lie all of the time.

"Everybody lies." I pointed out to him.

"I honestly don't recall ever telling a lie."

"Not even a little white one?" I asked.

"If a lie was necessary, I wouldn't speak. It makes life so much easier." I swear if he was girl he'd be a nun.

"Not always." It was true, lying was like my third language.

"How so?" He arched his eyebrow.

"If you had no choice." There were many times where I had to lie to protect myself or others I cared about.

"Example?" He asked.

"Protecting your family." I answered.

"Don't speak. Or call the person call the person questioning you various profanities. Either way." I had done both and that lead me to being tongue-less.

"Yes because that always helps." My pen went back to being sarcastic.

"Let me guess; you probably did something similar, and that's what got you here." He guessed.

"Nope. But I have lied." I admitted unregretfully.

"Like you said; most everyone has. Just remember; I don't tolerate lies. Not to me." He warned.

"I haven't had a reason to lie to you." I hadn't told, or wrote, a lie since I got to the Capitol.

"And I don't plan on giving you one."

"You never know." I shrugged.

"Don't be too sure." He smirked at me.

"You probably wouldn't know if I lied." I smirked slightly. I was a little over confident, but lying was forte.

"Wanna bet? I'm pretty good at figuring out lies from the truth." Maybe I wasn't the only one who was over confident.

"And I've had years of experience in the art of lying." My pen flowed with more over confidence.

"Try me."

"Two truths and a lie?" I asked.

"Sounds good." He agreed.

"1: I got caught stealing bread.  
2: I bit the Head Peacekeeper.  
3: One of the Peacekeepers wanted to sell my hair." They were all true of course. I just wanted to see if he'd guess one.

"All true." Dammit.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"That's my secret." He smirked.

"Tell me how you'd know, I never told you how I got here. You don't even know what District I'm from."

"You'll never know." He smiled secretively.

"I'll get it out of you, someday."

"Good luck with that." He rolled his eyes.

"I can be very convincing." I told him. He rolled his again, disbelieveingly. "You know, I really don't know that much about you." I changed the subject.

"What do you want to know?" He asked me.

"Anything you're willing to tell me." I answered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hiya! I'm finally back with another chapter full of Cassie and Riley cuteness :D I hope you guys enjoy!**

**I own Cassie, my friend owns Riley, neither of us own Hunger Games.**

I sat in the kitchen eating some nasty soup I had made about five minutes earlier, wallowing in self-pity, when Riley walked in.

"What kind?" He asked referring to the soup.

_Tomato._ I answered on my notepad he had given me.

"Yum." He took out a bowl and started making some grilled cheese. "Want one?"

_Can't eat it._ I reminded him about my deformity.

"Right." I could tell he felt bad, I couldn't tell why though.

_So. _I wrote to break the silence that had settled between us.

Riley's answer didn't help our silence at all. "So…"

_What're you doing today? _I asked him.

"I got the day off of work, so I'm probably gonna do some painting." I looked around at the still white walls.

_Sounds not very fun. _I wrinkled my nose slightly.

Riley shrugged. "More fun than work."

My curiosity rose up inside me. _What do you do? _

"I work backstage for Caesar Flickerman." He answered.

_Oh? _I asked as I sat on the counter and dangled my legs.

"I'm the light and sound guy."

_So you're good with technology. _It was more of a statement than a question.

"You could say that." He shrugged.

_Could? _I couldn't help my curiosity.

All of sudden Riley became all modest. "It's a pretty easy job. Push a few buttons, show a few people how to do something. Nothing really hard."

_Doesn't sound so easy. _I decided to change the subject. _What else should I know about you?_

"You should know that there's an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the basement." He kept a straight face as he said this.

_You swim? _I wasn't really surprised. Riley did have the look of a swimmer.

"It's kind of an obsession of mine."

_Anything else?_ I was extremely curious about my owner.

He thought for a little bit. "I'll tell you if I think of anything."

_Girlfriend? _I hid my face slightly when I asked this.

"Nope." He popped the 'p'.

_Why not? _I was very surprised when I heard this. Riley was definitely good looking enough to have a girlfriend, I was curious as to why he didn't.

"No one really catches my eye." He explained. "Plus, I'm oblivious to flirting."

_You don't have to flirt to get a girlfriend. _

"Doesn't mean it doesn't help." He said.

_Still. _I shrugged.

"Not really looking anyway." He smirked. "I've got my eye on this one girl, though."

More curiosity rose up inside me once again. _Oh?_

"Yep. First girl I've been interested in in ages." He looked slightly dazed.

_What's she like? _I questioned.

"Well, she's got an attitude, and she's more trouble than she's worth," he explained, "but for whatever reason, I'm falling. Hard."

_What's her name? _I continued to press him for information about his "mystery" girl.

"Take a guess." He nudged me.

_Nope, _I shook my head, _tell me._

"Nah." He smiled. "Why? You jealous?"

_No. Why would I be? _I denied my inner jealousy. Although, I really didn't get why I was jealous, she didn't even have a name.

Riley shook his head. "Just being optimistic, I guess." He got up and walked away.

_Oh? _I got up to follow him.

I found him in one of the bedrooms painting one of the white walls red. I leaned against the doorway and watched him silently.

"Soo…" Riley broke the silence. "What about you? What did you do in your spare time before… Well, you know."

_Took care of my sister. _I mentally pushed away images of my little sister.

"You have a sister?"

_Had. _I tried not to cry as I wrote.

"Hm… What District are you from again?" He asked me.

My guard shot back up. _Why? _I asked as casually as possible.

"Just forgot." Riley shrugged.

_8._ I answered his question.

"Okay then. And what about your parents?"

I blinked back more tears. _Dead._

"Oh.." I could tell he felt bad for bring this all up.

I shrugged. _It's okay._

"Any extended family? Aunts? Uncles?" He asked me about my non-existent extended family.

_None that I know of._

"I see."

_What? _I asked, wondering about what was going on in that brain of his.

"Nothing." He wiped some Superman's-tights-blue paint on my nose. I frowned and wiped it off. Riley just laughed and went back to painting.

_So, why haven't you asked that girl out yet? _I asked, once again curious about Riley's, apparently non-existent, love life.

"A: Because I know for a fact she'd say no, and B: Because she would get hurt if anyone found out." He explained.

_But you said you aren't one to follow the rules._ I reminded him.

Riley shook his head. "Not if it would put her in danger."

_What's her name? _I asked again.

"Guess." He shrugged again.

_Tell me. _I ordered him. Yea, I know, Avoxes can't order people to do things, but we also can't have notepads and pens, but I do.

"Only if you guess it right."

_I don't think so. _I grabbed a paint brush, dipped it in some bright yellow paint and started to paint over what Riley had already painted, as if that would help. _Tell me._

Riley just smirked and painted my face. "Nah."

I glared up at him. _Yes._

"Why do you wanna know so bad?" He asked as he painted the wall red.

_Because your life is so much more interesting than mine. _

"I respectfully disagree _mon ange._" I raised my eyebrows at the new nickname.

**Okay, here is where I leave you guys. Have a nice day! REVIEW!**


End file.
